caledon

Caledon, Ontario

Caledon (2006 Population 57,050) is a town in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. In terms of land use, Caledon is somewhat urban, though it is primarily rural in nature. Many of Toronto's wealthiest citizens own large country estates in the area, among them many members of the Eaton Family, Norman Jewison, Elton John and the inventors of the board game Trivial Pursuit. It consists of an amalgamation of a number of urban areas, villages, and hamlets; its major urban centre with typified suburban housing mixed with old town charm is Bolton, located on its eastern side adjacent to York Region.

Caledon is one of three municipalities of Peel Region. The town is located just northwest of the city of Brampton.

Maclean's magazine has named Caledon as the safest town in Canada to live in.

Government

Caledon is divided into five wards represented on town council by:

Mayor Marolyn Morrison
Area Councillor Ward 1 Doug Beffort
Area Councillor Ward 2 Gord McClure
Area Councillor Ward 3 & 4 Nick deBoer
Area Councillor Ward 5 Jason Payne

Representation on regional council:

Mayor Marolyn Morrison
Regional Councillor Ward 1 Richard Paterak
Regional Councillor Ward 2 Allan Thompson
Regional Councillor Ward 3 & 4 Richard Whitehead
Regional Councillor Ward 5 Annette Groves

Per capita, Caledon has by far the largest representation on Peel Regional Council among the three municipalities.

Caledon also has a Mayor's Youth Council consisting of about 20 Caledon youth who host two meetings each month. They hold positions mirroring the town council, and inform them about issues important to the youth of Caledon.

The Caledon East Complex Centre has recently had an ice pad built.

Visible Minorities

Just as many Southern Ontario municipalities, Caledon has seen a large amount of visible minorities in recent years. 4.97% of Caledon was a visible minority, of which the highest percent was of Blacks 30.74%, South Asians 27.94%, Chinese 8.38%, West Asian 7.19% and Latino 6.79%. Caledon also has small Arab, Japanese, Korean and Filipino populations.

Communities

The primary administrative and commercial centre of Caledon is the community of Bolton, which the municipal government estimated as having a population of 26,478 in 2006.

Smaller communities in the town include Albion, Alloa, Alton, Belfountain, Boston Mills, Brimstone, Caledon, Caledon East, Campbells Cross, Castlederg, Cataract, Cedar Meadows, Cedar Mills, Cheltenham, Claude, Coulterville, Ferndale, Forks of the Credit, The Grange, Humber, Humber Grove, Inglewood, Kilmanagh, Lockton, Mayfield West, Macville, Melville, McLeodville, Mono Mills, Mono Road, New Glasgow, Palgrave, Queensgate, Rockside, Rosehill, Sandhill, Silver Creek, Sleswick, Sligo, Snelgrove, Stonehart, Taylorwoods, Terra Cotta, Tormore, Valleywood and Victoria.

Transportation

GO Transit operates two bus routes in Caledon;

serving Bolton, Ontario from Nobleton Vaughan through Kleinberg and Woodbridge with the Etobicoke North GO Station on the Georgetown line.
serving Orangeville and Brampton connecting with Brampton GO Station or Bramalea GO Station via Main Street/Highway 10.

The town currently has no government-supported local public transit system. However, growing population prompted a resident to start a private-owned transit company named Métis Transit Limited that briefly ran a service in 2006.

Accessible transit services are provided by Caledon Community Services Transportation and Transhelp (run by Peel Region). The highways in the municipality are:

Mississauga Road or Peel Regional Road 1
Airport Road or Peel Regional Road 7
Hurontario Street or Highway 10
Peel Regional Road 50 (formerly Highway 50)
Highway 410 to Highway 10 (under construction)

Attractions

History and trails

Brick Work Ruins (Caledon)
Bruce Trail (Caledon)
Caledon Trailway (Caledon)
Canadian Heritage Humber River (Caledon)
Elora-Cataract Trail (Caledon)
Grand Valley Trail (Caledon)
Great War Flying Museum (Caledon)
Humber Valley Trail (Caledon)
Andrews Treasuretrail (Caledon)
Oak Ridges Trail (Caledon)
Caledon Ski Club
Hair Pin Turn (Beside the Credit River)
Caledon Central Public School

Protected areas

Albion Hills Conservation Area (Caledon)
Alton Forest Conservation Area (Caledon)
Belfountain Conservation Area (Caledon)
Caledon Lake Forest Conservation Area (Caledon)
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park (Caledon)
Glen Haffy Conservation Area (Caledon)
Heart Lake Conservation Area (Brampton)
Ken Whillans Conservation Area (Caledon)
Palgrave Conservation Area (Caledon)
Robert Baker Forest Conservation Area (Caledon)
Terra Cotta Forest Conservation Area (Caledon)
Warwick Conservation Area (Caledon)

Notable People

Barry Stock member of Canadian band Three Days Grace is from Caledon.

Emergency services

Fire - Town of Caledon Fire Service - 9 fire halls
Police - Ontario Provincial Police
Ambulance - Peel Regional Paramedic Services - stations in Bolton and Caledon Village